Launching today [13th February] FoodSwitch is the first ever smartphone app that enables UK consumers to make healthier and smarter food and drink choices. Putting consumers in control whilst out shopping, FoodSwitch will help customers make more informed decisions when purchasing their weekly shop, in turn reducing their risk of ill health through poor diets.
FoodSwitch allows users to scan the barcode of over 80,000 packaged food and drinks sold across major UK supermarkets using their smartphone camera to receive immediate, easy to understand ‘traffic light’ colour-coded nutritional information along with suggested similar, healthier products. It is now easier than ever for consumers to reduce high levels of fat, salt and sugar in their families’ diet.
A poor diet is responsible for tens of thousands of premature deaths every year in the UK. People will be able to use this smartphone technology to swap the foods in their regular shopping basket for healthier options to help themselves and their families to cut their risk of diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
- Susan Jebb, Professor of Diet and Population Health, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford
FoodSwitch was developed by leading UK nutrition research experts; Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH), the Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research, The British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group, the Nuffield Department of Population Health and the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford (Professor Susan Jebb), and led by The George Institute for Global Health (TGI). FoodSwitch is further supported by nine UK organisations.